CONGRESS BEGINS MARATHON CANVASSING FOR PRESIDENT, VP

MANILA — The Senate and the House of Representatives convened Tuesday in a joint session as the National Board of Canvassers to officially count the votes for president and vice president and eventually proclaim the winners for these polls.

For the first time in the history of the country’s automated elections, Congress will be working round-the-clock to canvass the votes for president and vice president in the hopes of proclaiming winners in these races by Wednesday.

“We are looking at two days,” Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri told reporters in a press conference on Monday. “With this kind of outcome where the difference [of votes between candidates] is huge and convincing … we don’t really see too many problems that may arise.”

Presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his running mate, presumptive vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio have secured convincing leads in their respective races, garnering over 31 million votes respectively, according to partial and unofficial results.

To make the outcome of the elections final, Article VII, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution tasks Congress to canvass votes for president and vice president.

Presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his running mate, presumptive vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio have secured convincing leads in their respective races, garnering over 31 million votes respectively, according to partial and unofficial results.

To make the outcome of the elections final, Article VII, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution tasks Congress to canvass votes for president and vice president.

SENATE OKS BILL ON BIRTH, DEATH, MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES’ PERMANENT VALIDITY

MANILA — The Senate has approved on third and final reading a measure providing permanent validity of the certificates of live birth, death and marriage, barring agencies from requiring a new copy of these certificates from individuals who transact business with them.

Voting 21-0, senators recently passed Senate Bill 2450 or the proposed Permanent Validity of the Certificates of Live Birth, Death and Marriage Act issued, signed, certified or authenticated by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and its predecessor, the National Statistics Office, and local civil registries, and the reports of birth, death and marriage registered and issued by the Philippine Foreign Service posts.

“What is its mandate? Public or private entities are barred from requiring a new copy of these certificates from individuals who transact business with them,” Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said in his explanatory vote.

Recto added that after this bill becomes law, the government shall enforce the permanent validity of the certificates of live birth, death and marriage issued, signed, certified or authenticated by the PSA.

“The only exception is if it can no longer be read, or like a pained heart, it is already crushed. If the security features are no longer readable and authenticity is degraded, a new one is in order,” he said.

“Or if the civil registrar subjected you to a sex change by clerical mistake so that you’ve become a ‘he’ instead of a ‘she,’ a gender reassignment caused by an errant stroke of a pen, then in that case, you will need a corrected birth certificate,” the senator said.

“Can I request replacement documents? Honestly, for as long as the reasons are valid, unlimited copies can be requested,” he added.

Those who are “poor in life – but rich in love – can get a replacement compensation for free as long as they can present proof that you are in need from the Department of Social Welfare and Development,” according to Recto.

“And the gist of the bill is this: a Filipino can celebrate his birthday as many times as he wants. But birth certificates are forever. The same principle should be applied to marriage as well,” he said.

“We often talk about red tape encountered by big business, and we have passed laws easing them the burden of doing business. It is time to extend the same relief to ordinary citizens. This revolving door in getting civil registry documents must now end,” he added.

DUTERTE SIGNS FIVE LOCAL LAWS

MANILA — President Duterte has signed into law five measures related to local maritime industry offices and schools.

The new laws were signed last April 29.

Republic Act 11760 creates an extension office of the Maritime Industry Authority in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, while RA 11761 converts the satellite office of the Maritime Industry Authority in Maasin City, Southern Leyte into an extension office.

Also signed were laws changing the name of Pinaglabanan High School in Goa, Camarines Sur to Pinaglabanan National High School (RA 11762); converting the Molmol Elementary School in Davao Occidental into an integrated school to be known as Mariano Anoy Sangay Integrated School (RA 11763) and changing the name of Salin Elementary School in Bauko, Mountain Province to Talban P. Bitayan Elementary School.

Meanwhile, the P500,000 current insurance for bank deposits may be increased to P750,000 or as much as P1 million, when Duterte signs into law the bill that has been approved both by the Senate and House of Representatives.

The House and Senate previously ratified the conference committee report on the bill.

The Congress-approved bill, now awaiting the Chief Executive’s signature, grants the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. the power to increase the MDIC (maximum deposit insurance coverage) per depositor per bank.

Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr., a member of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries, expects Duterte to sign the measure before he steps down on June 30.

Under the bill, the PDIC’s governing board “may increase the amount of the MDIC to an amount indexed to inflation or in consideration of other economic indicators as may be deemed appropriate.”

The measure also empowers the PDIC to review the amount of the MDIC every three years and enlarge it as may be warranted.

“The PDIC has no choice but to increase the MDIC because spiraling inflation is eroding at a faster rate the value of depositor protection afforded by the prevailing P500,000 ceiling,” Campos said.

WHO'S WHO: THE MARCOS CABINET

MANILA — Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., presumptive president-elect, may have won the 2022 national polls with a historic majority vote but investors and the public are jittery despite his mandate of more than 31 million votes.

Transitions between administrations are common and the Marcos team said they have been hard at work preparing for it by mapping out priority areas. Among those areas is picking competent members for Marcos' economic team, which will be facing the most difficult task of reviving the economy.

"I continue to be guided by competence and willingness to work with the next admin, so we have removed immediately about their political leanings have been," Marcos, who had been sparing in the details of his platform of governance, said on May 11.

The president-in-waiting has asked for a few more days to complete his Cabinet, but so far, the following have accepted their nominations:

NATIONAL ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY: ARSENIO BALISACAN

Balicasan is returning to NEDA, the state’s socioeconomic planning agency, which he led during the admionistration of President Benigno Aquino III.

He was later the first chief of the country's antitrust watchdog, the Philippine Competition Commission, under the Duterte administration. As he returns to NEDA, Balicasan will help Marcos steer the economy to recovery in the face of a large budget deficit, debt pile and high unemployment.

DEPARTMENT OF MIGRANT WORKERS: SUSAN OPLE

Ople is a known advocate for overseas workers, and previously served as Labor undersecretary. She founded founded the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, a non-governmental organization that assists OFWs by giving them training to to help them land better jobs abroad. She will be heading the newly created Department of Migrant Workers that consolidates agencies handling Overseas Filipino Worker concerns under one roof.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT: BIENVENDO LAGUESMA

Laguesma is one of the officials from the administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III — as SSS commissioner — who agreed to go back to public service. Laguesma will return to DOLE, where he held the chief post from 1998 to 2001. He will be handling the department as as unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is falling but remained at 2.87 million Filipinos who were either jobless or unemployed in March.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: CRISPIN "BOYING" REMULLA

Remulla won his re-election bid as a lawmaker of the seventh district of Cavite — where the Remullas are among the powerful political clans.

The family has a long storied history of supporting the Marcoses, and, in the 2022 polls, they delivered more than a million votes for the presumptive president-elect.

Remulla has accused supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo of links to communist rebels. He was also one of the congressmen who led the hearings that eventually killed the hopes for a new legislative franchise of ABS-CBN.

At the DOJ, he will sit on the committee investigating killings of activists and on the Anti-Terrorism Council that can designate and authorize the prolonged detention of people the government labels as terrorists.

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY: VIC RODRIGUEZ

Rodriguez is a lawyer by profession, but he is more known as the long-time spokesperson and chief of staff of Marcos. According to the Marcos campaign, he is the managing lawyer of Rodriguez & Partners Law Firm and is president of QC Trial Lawyers League.

As executive secretary —a position often referred to as "Little President" — he would be the chief alter-ego of Marcos. Under the Duterte administration, the executive secretary was usually designated as caretaker when the president was abroad.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT: BENJAMIN "BENHUR" ABALOS JR.

Marcos campaign manager Abalos will lead the Department of the Interior and Local Government. Abalos formerly led the Metro Manila Development Authority during the height of the pandemic and was instrumental in urging unity among Metro Manila's mayors.

As DILG chief, he will be tasked with assisting the president in exercising general supervision over local governments and overseeing the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and the Bureau of Fire Protection.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: SARA DUTERTE-CARPIO

Marcos' running-mate, Davao City Mayor Duterte has more than a decade of experience in local governance under her belt.

She initially said she wanted to lead the Department of National Defense, if elected. But, in a surprise announcement on May 11, Marcos said the presumptive vice president-elect agreed to become the next Department of Education chief.

In this post, Duterte is expected to address poor teaching and learning conditions, insufficient instructional facilities worsened by the pandemic, and a strong call to strengthen the inculcation of the country’s history, including Martial Law, among young learners.

DUTERTE: NEXT GOV’T SHOULD CONSIDER USING NUCLEAR ENERGY

MANILA—President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday expressed hope that the next administration will explore the possibility of using nuclear energy in the Philippines amid rising oil prices.

Oil prices have surged for more than 10 straight weeks as the Russia-Ukraine war affected the global crude oil supply since late February this year.

"Oil is not infinite, may katapusan 'yan. Someday it will dry up. It will be good for any government to prepare the possibility of making the transition from oil, fossil fuel to nuclear kasi nuclear is forever," Duterte said in a taped public briefing.

However, he echoed the warnings of experts that there are risks of using a nuclear power plant, such as radiation leaks.

Duterte, who will step down from office next month, noted that the Philippines has the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant built during the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr.'s rule.

The presumptive president and only son of the former dictator, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., has said he was looking into reviving the nuclear power plant.

In a press conference earlier Monday, Marcos Jr. said the country needs to be ready with higher power supply "if we are going to industrialize post-pandemic."

He noted that a power facility needs to have "at least 3 years of lead time" before it can be fully utilized.

Earlier this year, Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) Director Carlo Arcilla said the Philippines may start running a nuclear power plant in 5 years if the proposed program will proceed without any obstacle.

South Korea has offered to rehabilitate the Bataan plant for $1.1 billion, Arcilla said.

'AKO NA PUPUNTA': DUTERTE SAYS HE WANTS TO ATTEND NEXT CLIMATE CHANGE MEET

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night said he wanted to attend the next meeting about climate change and call for the accountability of bigger nations for their inaction on the climate crisis.

Duterte made the remark after Climate Change Commission vice chair Robert Borje discussed how climate change continues to threaten natural resources and negatively impact smaller countries like the Philippines.

"Ako na ang pupunta doon. Ah, hindi, talaga. Ano ba talaga ang gusto ninyo?" the President said in a taped address.

"Kung — if they maintain their attitude towards this challenging huge task, eh taon-taon tayong babasagin dito sa ano. Now, eh kung mag-ano sila, I said they start to reduce the carbon footprints sa ano nila, eh di gawain nila," he added.

"Kung hindi, magpunta ako doon, sabihin ko sa meeting, kung may meeting man, ako na ang magpunta."

FROM ADVOCATE TO CABINET MEMBER: TOOTS OPLE ACCEPTS MARCOS OFFER TO HEAD OFW DEPT

MANILA — Former labor undersecretary and overseas Filipino worker advocate Susan "Toots" Ople on Tuesday confirmed that she has accepted the offer of incoming President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to head the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

Ople said she met with Marcos and incoming Labor Secretary Benny Laguesma on Monday.

"I’m coming in more so as a specialist in my field and also perhaps as someone who has a father for her idol throughout her life and would like to do justice to the legacy he left behind," Ople told ANC's Headstart.

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OCTA: WORST-CASE COVID-19 SCENARIO IS 'WEAK SURGE' IN METRO MANILA

MANILA — Metro Manila's COVID-19 reproduction number — a term that refers to the number of persons a COVID-19 positive individual can infect — now stands at 1.05, indicating that Metro Manila's low-risk status may only lead to a "weak surge" in COVID-19 cases at worst, the OCTA Research Group said Tuesday.

In an advisory issued Tuesday morning, OCTA Research fellow Guido David said that a reproduction number above 1 does not necessarily mean that COVID-19 cases will surge.

"Overall, NCR remained at low-risk. Over the next few weeks, the best-case scenario is status quo, while the worst-case scenario, based on current data, is a weak surge in COVID-19 cases," David said.

5 YEARS AFTER SIEGE, ONLY 72 PCT OF MARAWI REHAB PROJECTS COMPLETED

MANILA — About 72 percent of rehabilitation projects in Marawi have been completed five years after a war between government troops and Islamist extremists erupted and reduced the city to rubble, the official heading recovery efforts there said Monday.

An additional 18 percent of projects will be finished between July and September this year, Housing Secretary and Task Force Bangon Marawi head Eduardo del Rosario told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

"So all in all, we will be having about 90 percent [of projects completed] by September," del Rosario said.

These projects include "major infrastructures" and "public facilities."

The remaining 10 percent of projects, he said, are expected to be finished by the first quarter of 2023.

"These are the projects that are about to start, 'di pa 'to nagsisimula dahil iyong budget ngayon lang binigay nitong taon na ito, at iyong iba nag-spillover to 2022 yung budget na binigay last year," del Rosario said.

The official previously said they expect the rehabilitation of Marawi to be completed by December 2021 or within the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Del Rosario announced the development on the fifth anniversary of the start of the 5-month fierce battle in Marawi as government security forces track extremists affiliated with the Islamic State (IS).

Earlier this month, the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) announced it had completed building 1,000 permanent houses for the victims of the Marawi siege.

"Iyong bibigyan ng permanent shelters, ito iyong mga nakatira sa danger zones along Lake Lanao and along the Agus River. So hindi na sila makakabalik doon dahil tumira sila sa gilid ng lake at gilid ng river, at doon sila nakatira sa 10 hectares na reclamation area na pag-aari ng local government unit," del Rosario said.

Five years after the Marawi siege, del Rosario noted only a few families have rebuilt their homes in the most affected area, mostly due to land title problems and disputes.

Other victims, he added, were unwilling to undergo the process of requesting for building permits for their homes, as mandated by the Building Code.

"Kaya kailangan ma-settle muna among themselves. Kaya nagtayo tayo ng committee na what we call Local Dispute Resolution Committee, composed of well-meaning individuals in the Marawi City government, para sila mismo ang mag-resolve ng kanilang issues," del Rosario said.

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

SAM MILBY CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY WITH GIRLFRIEND CATRIONA GRAY IN CANADA

Actor Sam Milby marked his birthday with his girlfriend, Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray, in Canada.

On Instagram, their talent management Cornerstone Entertainment shared a video showing Milby receiving a birthday song from Gray and the audience during their "One Magical Night 2022 Canada Tour" show abroad.

They were joined by their fellow artists Rayver Cruz and Marcelito Pomoy.

"What a way to end the tour. Happy birthday our dearest @samuelmilby!!!" the caption read.

Last Sunday, Gray shared photos of her and Milby, after holding a show in Calgary, Canada. She said it felt nice to finally share the stage with Milby since they got together.

It was back in 2020 when Milby, through an Instagram post, confirmed his relationship with Gray.

SPORTS

NBA SCORES MAY 22

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

3 Warriors3-0    25        23        30        31        109

4 Mavericks0-3 22        25        21        32        100

GAME 3: GS LEADS 3-0, AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER, DALLAS, TX

SCORING LEADERS

S. Curry GS

31 PTS 5 REB 11 AST

L. Doncic DAL

40 PTS 11 REB 3 AST

INDICATORS

FOREX $1 = P 52.27

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

He will have to learn, I know, that all people are not just - that all men and women are not true. Teach him that for every scoundrel there is a hero that for every enemy there is a friend. Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest people to lick. - Abraham Lincoln